Lida Magnus: Bass, Volunteer Coordinator, Tyrant, UBC Jazz

Lida Magnus is a bassist who finished undergraduate studies at UBC's Sauder School of Business earlier this year. After that, she took a summer job as the volunteer coordinator at the 2024 Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival, which was the impetus for me to interview her: what was that like?

Then, a glance at the gig list told me that Lida would lead a Joni Mitchell-themed band at Tyrant Studios this weekend; and subsequently, in our interview, I learned that the very next day she'd be packing up and leaving town for a year.

Our conversation, therefore, bounced from the Fort Langley experience, to her show, to her peers, some of whom are part of a rising UBC contingent in our jazz scene. It was our first time speaking to each other, and I'm sharing it with you in full (edited lightly for textual clarity). Please enjoy my conversation with Lida Magnus.

WILL CHERNOFF: So, can you talk about your background in Langley?

LIDA MAGNUS: Oh, sure. I've lived in Langley most of my life. I was born in the Burnaby hospital, but I’ve lived in Langley since I was four years old and went to lots of the public elementary schools. The high school I graduated from was Langley Fundamental Secondary. And I graduated in 2020, so 'covid grad'. I did my degree at UBC, and I lived on campus, but I lived at home in the summers, every summer. I was often going back and forth, between, on the weekends for family birthdays and holidays. So, I'm quite connected.

I've always been really involved in Langley. I've lived in Langley City, I've sat on Langley City committees. I'm quite familiar with the current mayor, Nathan Pachal. And even with my family: we run a small law firm called Magnus Law in the City of Langley that's been operating since 2016, and like 12 people work there in total, quite small. So I've been quite involved in Langley.

When I found a job for volunteer coordinator of the Fort Langley Jazz Festival, with my jazz musicianship and being from Langley... and, volunteer coordinator, I think I'm quite the people person. It was like a summer job made in heaven for me, so it was quite great.

WC: What was your exposure to the festival before you worked there this summer?

LM: I went to it. Obviously I love jazz and I love Langley, so I went to it last summer, just as a patron. I always kind of knew of it. Even in 2019 I went there. My friend and I went to the swing dancing event and all the Saturday night shows in 2019. So I've been generally aware of it.

I think I performed in it, actually, too. I was in the Langley Ukulele Ensemble, and we played on some Saturday morning, in one of their... the stage wasn't there this year, I forget what it was called, but I actually performed in the Fort Langley Jazz Festival with the Ukulele Ensemble in 2019.

I've been aware of it basically as soon as it started. Maybe not since 2018, but 2019, it's been on my radar. I've loved it ever since.

WC: In terms of you playing bass, I know while you did business studies at UBC, you played bass with a lot of UBC people. Can you talk about your background on the bass?

LM: Yeah! I did my undergrad in business. I just graduated, but obviously I'm a busy person, I like to keep myself occupied. I played the bass in high school in all the jazz bands and jazz combos. I wanted to keep my music up and going, so there's a jazz club, UBC Jazz Club. I remember, did you interview Rachel Therrien when she came here?

WC: Yes!

LM: Yes, when she did your podcast, she just did an event with us that I was running. That was an event that I spearheaded. With the UBC Jazz Club, which is an AMS club at UBC that runs jam sessions and hosts performances on-campus for UBC students; the funny thing is, I mean, I don't know about this coming year, but in the previous years that I was involved, all the kids that were running it in the exec team, no one was a music major. I think one person had a music minor, but everyone was like: a bio major, I was business, someone was in nursing, in computer science... But there's a bunch of people who are passionate about jazz, and love to play, and [it] offered UBC students two times a week to hear free live jazz. Twice a week at our jam sessions, and then our weekly performances at the gallery. And on top of that, we played games, we hosted events [...] I was the treasurer of it for the last two years before I graduated, and then I was also the VP [of] marketing. So I was heavily involved in all the executive decision-making of the UBC Jazz Club.

Through those jam sessions, I met a lot of people – I think you've probably heard of Jeffrey Chen, of Chen Baker – and started gigging in Vancouver there. [It was] that jam session scene and branching out from that point onward.

WC: You are going to play at Tyrant on Saturday, August 24th. Can you talk about how you came up with the concept of the show, who's playing with you, and anything else you want to share about that gig coming up?

LM: Yeah, of course. That show came to me as an idea. I’ve always wanted to play at Tyrant. I’d say I'm at a good, friendly basis with Daniel Deorksen, who does all the booking.

Have you heard of the Gander Jam?

WC: Yeah!

LM: I was told about the Gander Jam [...] Actually with the Rachel Therrien event, I don't know if she told you about it, but that event we did with Rachel was to put women in jazz's voices ahead. And so she did a workshop, and I did a fireside chat with her, about her experience as a woman in jazz. And we did a small performance. Being a female in the jazz scene is a very apparent thing that I experienced; thing is not the right word, but I'm really passionate about including women in the scene, which is kind of ironic, because there's only one other woman in my band... I've always wanted to play at Tyrant, but I've never found the opportunity to, because there's a bunch of bassists, and because I'm still young, and I'm still getting my name out there, and I haven't really done anything professionally. I'm not getting asked to be in any of these bands.

At one point, I went to the Gander Jam, and I got so much positive feedback that I was like, you know what? I know Dan myself: what if I just think of an idea and put together a show of music that I like and that I want to do?

And so I thought, for a day, of what I'm really passionate about. As a business major and just in life in general, when you put your passions out there, people tend to gravitate towards them. I'm a big diehard Joni Mitchell fan. I've loved her for several years, and I went to her concert at the Gorge last year. I drove all the way, and my grandma and my sister and I camped overnight and left the next morning. I've loved Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell does a lot of jazz, and she's collaborated with Herbie Hancock and a bunch of other jazz musicians, Jaco Pastorius on a few of her records, and I know she has lots of jazz influences. I know lots of people [...] they think of “Both Sides Now”, and the Blue album, which also is great music, but she has this whole other side... I thought to myself, I'm connected, I know people, I love this music, let's put it out there.

I pitched the idea to Dan, and he loved it. I got the band together, and it somehow came to fruition! I'm very excited, very nervous. But it's just music that I love and music that moves. The first set is going to be a Joni Mitchell tribute of those songs from her Hissing of Summer Lawns album and her Court and Spark album, and also the Hejira album. But then the second set is going to be a more soulful, like, 70s groove, with the music of Motown, with Marvin Gaye and more soulful funk with Stevie Wonder. I won't share too much information, to keep it a surprise, but it'll be moving and soulful. It's music that I love that I feel like a lot of people don't take the time to experience, if that explains the concept.

WC: That's awesome. I know you posted about it and said that it would be your last Vancouver gig for a while, so can you talk about your educational plans that are coming up here this fall?

LM: Have you heard of them already, like do you know? Did I already say it? Like, this is, I'm just so stunned that you know things about me! That’s crazy. Yeah, my educational plans for the fall: I’m going to law school in Edmonton, and I leave on the 25th. My family, we’re driving up to Edmonton, I'm gonna take my car. My parents were like, why did you book this show so late? And I was like, it was the only day that worked! The next morning, August 25th: we're going, and I'm going to be in Edmonton for the next three years.

Obviously I'll be home for the summer, because I love BC that much, but in the wintertime I won't be around. I'm pursuing a law degree because I also have that passion for advocacy and really enjoy intellectual activity and learning. So, yeah, it’s the last Vancouver gig for a while. Hopefully people come to the show with like a scarcity mindset [laughs]. Yeah, if that answers the question.

WC: What school are you going to?

LM: UofA, the University of Alberta.

WC: Nice. So back to Fort Langley, can you describe what you did in your position there?

LM: Yeah, I was the volunteer coordinator. Again, it was such a Goldilocks position for me, because it ended, obviously, when the festival ended; so I got to have the last month of August to get ready, and prepare for the show, and also get ready to move. As the volunteer coordinator, I was responsible for scheduling, recruiting, orienting volunteers, and communicating with them.

I'm honestly such a people person. I just got to interact with a hundred people who also love jazz so much that they want to volunteer their time to help out with our jazz festival. And it was a whole array of people volunteering at the festival, from brand-new immigrants to senior citizens, and people who've lived in Langley all their lives. Obviously, the teenagers who want to get their volunteer hours. They’re people who just genuinely really want to be around jazz and want to be involved in the community. I'm really grateful for Karen and Dave granting me the opportunity to work with everyone, and I had a brilliant time. It was everything that I could dream of.

The festival itself was intense, but that's expected, because you're a coordinator at a festival. I kept telling everyone that if it was any other festival that didn't have live music, I feel like I would not do the job again. But I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it again next year. No promises, I don't know where I'll be, but I've been offered the job for next year. I think I'll take it into deep consideration.

The live music completely calms you, and it was a really lovely experience. I started at the position in mid-May, and we also had a youth concert series that happened. I think you were probably aware of it. I was orienting and coordinating volunteers with that. And then planning the volunteer program for the actual festival at the end of July, and figuring out all the rules, and communicating with volunteers. It was really nice. I just got to be my social-butterfly self, working with people who also love jazz to put together this jazz festival. It was a beautiful, rewarding experience.

WC: Nice. Is there any other particular experience, or thing that happened, that you'll remember as a story that you're taking away from this year, the first time you did this role?

LM: I think overall, it was just a great whirlwind, it was a lot of work and energy put in. It was 16-hour days for three days straight, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. That's what you commit to by putting together a festival. I really loved meeting all the musicians, talking to them. I had some good conversations with Tony Coleman, who’s a blues drummer.

There's a woman that I was speaking to, she was blonde and fair-skinned and I'm Persian, and she suddenly started speaking Farsi and then knew about the Iranian culture better than I did. I was so impressed. I was like, wow, in the Fort Langley Jazz Festival? I can't believe it. I got to practice my Farsi as a Persian. There was this family of Iranian immigrants that recently came. I always told people, because I was raised here, that my Farsi was not that good. And then their Farsi was... I guess their English was worse than my Farsi, if that makes sense, so I got to practice giving instructions in this language that I know, kind of. And it worked! So now I tell people that maybe my Persian is not that bad, because I can give instructions to volunteers [laughs]. I got to practice that.

Honestly, just lots of great adventures and beautiful friendships that were made, and I'm really grateful for all the people that I recruited from my own personal network who came out. Like, my sister and my mom and my best friend all helped to volunteer. Some friends I knew. One friend I knew from the UBC Jazz Club, [to whom] I taught bass once, came and helped to volunteer. It was a really great experience.

We did a Blues Brothers show, and I was talking to the two main singers the night before. And it's so crazy, like they stay in character, like they're in character before they're on stage. They're so stone-cold-faced, and I’m trying to have an interaction with them, and I'm like, is he being mean to me? And then my parents were like, no, they're just in character [laughs]. It was a really cool experience. I loved the Blues Brothers show, I had a really great time.

Honestly, I think the festival went so well. I usually would go back and say, this mishap happened, this happened; but everything happened to plan. Everything went as scheduled. Volunteers showed up, they went where they needed to be, everything happened. It was so smooth, nothing went wrong [...] It was a great experience.

WC: That's awesome. Is there anything else at all about the festival or about what you're up to that we haven't brought up that you wanted to shout out or mention before we wrapped it up?

LM: Honestly, I'm really grateful for where I’m at right now and where I’m leaving the city at, after doing the festival. And then I'm pretty sure – I mean, knock on wood – that we're going to have a successful performance at Tyrant with music that I love.

And the band! The band, I'm super grateful for. Rick Son, who goes to Berklee during the year, he used to go to UBC before he went to Berklee, and so he came to UBC Jazz Club Jam. That's how I know him. I also just asked him one-on-one: I was like, Rick, would you be down for this? I didn't know him that well, I knew him well enough, like, I'd seen him around, and he said yes.

And Jeffrey Chen, I play with Jeffrey a lot. I honestly owe a lot of my, where I've come to with the music scene, to Jeffrey. The first show I did at a pub in Vancouver was at the Portside with Jeffrey, and we played at 2^nd Floor a few months back.

Karl DeJong, brilliant drummer that I actually know from Langley as well. He went to Fine Arts and I went to Langley Fundamental, but we were also in the same youth orchestra when we were like 17, 16. I was playing the bass and he was playing the timpani behind me. So it's a really cool opportunity to play together. He went to Cap. I've never been actually able to play with him, so it's really cool that I can finally play with him in a jazz setting.

Neal is also someone who frequented the UBC Jazz Club quite a bit and [whom] I've gotten to know really well, and he's an amazing player. He's great at hitting high notes, and also is a beautiful soul as well. I'm a very emotional person when it comes to my music choice, and I feel like Neal understands that. Neal Wang, brilliant.

And Spencer Drody: have you heard of Jazz House?

WC: Yes!

LM: Spencer’s from the Jazz House gang, I’ve gone to those jam sessions. So it's kind of a conglomerate of all these different jazz scenes into this one band.

And then the singer, who I don't think anyone knows, Tarane Tabeli, she’s my cousin! She has a powerhouse voice, and I'm so excited to put her voice out there using this platform. I don't know how she hasn't really gotten out there yet, but giving this platform for her, I think Vancouver will really love to hear it. It just stuns you. It's that Freddie Mercury powerful tone. Any song, she can sing it. It's gonna be brilliant.

So yeah, I have a stacked band that’s putting together music that I love. Every time I listen to the setlist I'm like, oh, I love this song. I have to remind myself that I put the setlist together: oh, yeah, that's why. So I'm really grateful for everyone involved and this project, just putting this music out there. That's kind of my main goal with it, is to share music that I love with Vancouver and the world, if you want to say that.

WC: Awesome. Thank you so much, Lida.

Saturday, August 24, 2024 @ 9:30 PM - Tyrant Studios, Lida Magnus' Mid-Century Meets Modern w/ Jeffrey Chen, Rick Son, Karl DeJong, Tarane Tabeli, & guests ($17.50)